Trouble at Work - Part 2

http://lukefisk.blogspot.com/2009/09/trouble-at-work.html

I bring up the following blog posting from a couple of months back to bring you all an update on the situation I and my fellow crew members are dealing with at work. During previous instances when our boss was in a fowl mood, it took him awhile to get back to normal. The same situation occurred in September - it was probably a good two weeks before I felt comfortable talking to him and being in the same room as him. He's admitted in the past that he doesn't deal well with change - but there's been plenty of change going on at work recently, which may set off his bad behavior. All has been well with our boss and his relationship with the crew up until this past Wednesday night when we started our first midnight shift. Ever since then, things have turned ugly. And now he's lost all of our respect because of his behavior.

Our control room operator is rather a jokester, always trying to keep the mood light. Wednesday night when our coordinator entered the room, he cracked a joke. The coordinator did not emote one ounce of a smile and got right to business, reading aloud a safety alert. He described everything that was going on, let us sit there to ponder it for a bit, then announced, "okay, let's go!" This was his way of saying, "get to work." Our shift starts at 10:55 on midnight shift, and it ended up being 11:10 when he ushered us out. There have been plenty of instances, especially when our boss was in a good mood, where we didn't leave until half-past. When he kicks us out of the control room in such short fashion, usually that's a good sign he isn't in a good mood.

Like in September, he hasn't allowed us to have extended coffee and lunch breaks. He comes up immediately after 10 and 20 minutes respectively, kicking us out of the lunch room. I, being in the position that I'm in, don't have to leave in that quick of a hurry, at least he can't make me. I am an assistant plant operator, meaning he can't deny me the right of being in the control room. But for everyone else not in that position, they have to leave. All of the other coordinators on the job in the past and the present have all giving their crews the luxury of extended breaks. So it confuses us as to why our boss is on such a huge power trip as he is.

I've encountered him a few different instances on the floor of the mill. During one situation, I was driving by on a cart while he was standing near a grinding mill. He waved, which actually surprised me. I thought maybe he was starting to cheer up a bit. But in a couple of other instances since, particularly yesterday, he has not initiated contact with me. I was driving a cart heading south down the main aisle way of the mill and he was walking north. Instead of looking directly at me and waving, he put his head down and ignored me. In the other instance, we were experiencing trouble at one end of the plant and he showed up as well. He made a gesture to me, a slashing-of-the-throat gesture to mean the conveyor we were having issues with wouldn't start. I nodded, in which he called to get an electrician down there. He stayed for awhile, but never initiated any small talk with me and preferred to "lean" against a hand rail away from me. Other people from my crew have had similar occurrences with him. We honestly have no idea what his deal is with the crew. I would think that if he had any problems with the crew or a particular individual, he would speak to us or that person and tell us what's going on. But as I mentioned in September, this seems to be the way he deals with his problems. He shuts us all out and goes on this big power trip like he's the big deal.

The general consensus among the crew is that he may be bipolar. I am somewhat familiar with the condition but I guess I would have to read up more on it to see if this particular individual has the true symptoms. Either that or he's seriously depressed and the more he acts like this, the deeper and deeper he may fall. I guess I am perplexed at what to do. Our crew has been discussing the possibility of talking with our boss about his behavior - only to wonder if this will do no good or make him act even worse and retaliate against us. All I know is this cannot keep happening to our crew. We have a great group of people that deserve a lot better than how our boss is treating us. We've always worked hard and helped each other out. He's even made the same compliment to us when he was in a much better mood. I have also thought about discussing the matter with our operations manager. Our boss definitely has a history of this kind of behavior and it's certainly troubling for us all. The morale of the crew is at rock bottom and nobody wants to go into work dealing with a loser like this. Thankfully I have not gotten the worst treatment from him like others on the crew have, but I feel bad for everyone. The situation has given me great anxiety lately and I know something needs to happen sooner rather than later.